Mark Jurras <JURRAM@TORRINGTON.COM> wrote:
>I have done some more investigating on my Mysterious Code Protect Bit Set
>problem and find that the PICSTART Plus confirms that my JW part is blank.
>My Brand new never used ProMate II with PIC16XX 28/40 LEAD DIP AC164012
>module says that the same part is Code Protected. This leads me to believe
>that the ProMate II is suspect.

A couple of months ago I was working on a 16C62A project and started
with six windowed parts.  Eventually, the Promate said that two of them
were code protected and I got some other nastygram for the third.  I was
particularly careful to make sure that the code protect bit was not
active.  On a couple of occasions, when I hit the key to start programming
I noticed that the file transfer seemed to get interrupted and the
programmer reported an error.  Subsequently, the parts were unusable.

I don't have a PICSTART for comparison.

There have been some rumblings about unstable Promate software but it
seems that Microchip is playing this close to the vest.  I would guess
that they would like to avoid replacing a ton of parts.


--
Bob Fehrenbach    Wauwatosa, WI     bfehrenb@execpc.com